I just read Don Ledingham’s post about Unconditional Positive Regard – the way in which he treats  every young person he comes in contact with. He explains :

…getting really angry and just wanting kids who misbehaved to be removed from my class. I can’t exactly remember when my attitude changed but I do know that when I shifted from a “conditional” approach to an “unconditional” approach that the response I got from children was incredibly different and the impact that I had a teacher was transformed. 

On reading this I was struck. I am not ashamed to say that am a teacher with conditional positive regard. But only on the inside. You see, when with pupils I will always treat them with respect, I always listen, I always basically try my best so as to do the best for them. I know this without a doubt. But as Don says how a teacher he knew used to call a pupil a ‘moron’, well never would I say that to a pupils face but I know that I do have similar thoughts about certain pupils.

You see although my outer actions will always treat everyone with the same type of unconditional positive regard (I think this has something to do with how I was brought up), on the inside I often regard pupil’s as right “so and so’s” (as my Dad puts it).

 And this is what I think Don is missing from his post because I believe it is only human to do so. For 3 short terms I have tried with a certain pupil (yes you have heard it all before) and although I have repeatedly been consistent, fair, followed discipline procedures that I have been instructed to, given the pupil individual support during class-time, avoided confrontation etc etc etc, he has been continually and very blatantly disrespectful to me. I don’t really like this boy, I think he is a rather nasty teenager and he does not seems to respond well to Unconditional Positive Regard. “Yeh, yeh Miss. Whatever…” I do honestly think, and this is very unfortunate, that for some pupils Don’s approach does not work. I think that if I was a stern looking middle age man with a bark in my voice this boy would behave differently. But maybe that is only experience.

 So when Don says

“And what if people don’t treat kids with unconditional positive regard?” – Then they are in the wrong job!

I would put in an extra word: “try”. I totally don’t condone teachers that just blank kids, pick on them on just slag them off in the staffroom. That seriously bugs me as it is just uncalled for. But for a teacher to dispair and be pretty close to giving up but somehow to just keep going  then I think that is essential.

Here is something that really sums up what I love about teaching. The man in the picture is a colleague of mine who has been teaching Technical for about 25 years. It is a fairly recent picture. When I first saw it I was struck by a few things.

The nature of teaching: collaboration is the key.

The fact that after 25 years teachers are still driven to help people learn.

The great practical and fun nature of my subject.

 Thanks to Stuart and John who made me come up with this picture and I would ask David Cain  , Nick Hood , Ant Jessop , Pat aka “loonyhiker” and of course Ian Stuart to come up with a picture that shows why you are passionate about what you do!

Honestly – would you on a day of your holiday – spend an evening packing your stuff, get up early the next day, get a ferry at 8o’clock in the morning drive for about 5 hours across Scotland just to do some CPD? Bearing in mind you’ve still got to get back home. Ian Stuart and Andy Wallis did. Are they insane? Nope – because there were teacher’s and educators from all over Scotland travelling for a few hours after a work to get to TeachMeetPerth. People joined the TeachMeet from even further afield through the Flashmeeting. Seriously I cannot recommend enough - if you do one piece of CPD in the coming year get yourself to a TeachMeet!

Why? It is full of enthusiatic, knowledgeable and practical teachers who share what works in the classroom. Based on experience, teachers have 7 minutes to share how they’ve been using Technology in the classroom. I have been priveledged to be at 2 TeachMeets and both times I have been bowled over at how I been made to feel part of a community of educators that love making things better for pupils. Getting involved in this has had a huge influence of how I have approached teaching. It not only provides me with a ton of ideas but allows me to reflect outwith my department.

So what did I learn. Firstly – I want to make it a long term target for myself to get 80-90% of pupil written work in a digital format. Why? Two reasons – from seeing Ian Stuart’s ease at which he organises, provides feedback and pupils collaborate on their handheld Q1’s – I want to do that. OneNote looks like a fantastic application – amazingly intuitive and easy to use. And also from Robert Jones’ recommendation: “where should we start the roll-out of 1-1?” and I want to be so ready that they couldn’t possibly choose anywhere else”. I don’t know how long it will take – but if I can and it’s practical I want to get rid of all unneccessary bits of paper both for me and the pupils.

The other person I thought was great was Nick Hood. He made a quick get-away afterwards and I really wish I had been able to speak to him. I admire the “no holds barred” way that he conducts himsself on the net – and I mean this in a positive way. He is refreshingly honest and humorous and his short presentation was cutting it all back to basics. You don’t need to go all high tech, just get a projector and a wireless mouse and there’s loads of potential. In his Authority everything is blocked and he gave a fantastic explanation of a teacher who refuses to give up and persists in finding effective ways of using the web2.0 tools that are out there.

Finally, a big heads up to Neil Winton, English teacher and blogger who organised the whole thing. His “7 tools in about 3 minutes” was a whirlwind tour of neat stuff that can be really useful in the classroom. In particular I loved Fleck, the website annotation tool. I can see loads of use for this in the design classroom. He also managed to book a pretty fantastic curry that allowed for some great chat.

So Islay Ian has a lot to live up to as he is proposing an Islay High School open day showcasing the unique things they are getting up to. In particular, I would love to see a school that has removed age and stage restrictions let alone a school with the lowest photocopying budget in the world* If you have one thing to do in June, get your ass self over to Islay High School, cos it looks like there might be another TeachMeet horizon!

*All I know is that the Design and Technology department managed to spend about £7 over the course of a year on photocopying. Eh, lets see someone beat that!

So it’s been a bit of a hiatus? Apart from being busy – what has kept me away from blogging is that there are so many damn bloggers out there with a million and one things to say that by the time I read a couple each night I don’t really have anything new to say.

Ha! Nothing new to say? Well I thought this ‘comeback’ post might interest you. Before you read any further think about what your first year of teaching like? What was the first few months like?

A walk in the park? Lol, this year has been bloody hard – and the trouble with explaining it on a blog is that I obviously can’t make anything too ‘personal’ and have to talk in generalities. But if you want to reminisce then carry on reading.

By far the hardest thing, without a shadow of a doubt is classroom management. I think my favourite line so far when ‘talking’ to a pupil is: “It is your choice” I love taking myself outside the equation and putting the decision as to what happens in their hands. But honestly, I don’t know how many times I have used this line and how often it works. Some kids just don’t get it. I also totally agree with the whole don’t crack a smile till Christmas – maybe a bit severe but it’s the right idea. If you give an inch they take a mile. Everytime. And I do seem to be constantly reining them in – making sure they know the boundaries. But hey – there’s always next year.

A positive though – never ever under estimate the value of your colleagues. If you are an experienced teacher no matter how you teach, us newbies always want to learn from you. If you have only been teaching a year more than me, I still want to learn from you and any little nugget of information or experience is like gold dust for people like me who are finding our way in teaching. When I have a crap class, the best thing about it is waving ‘bye’ to the kids and talking to other teachers.

I don’t mind admitting that I’ve been on an emotional roller coaster and I bet you were too during your first year (maybe you still are). One week I’m full of energy with great new ideas, lessons prepared to the max. Others I am shattered, wondering why the hell I attempt to teach certain pupils as it seems to have little effect. Most weeks I middle out – a sort of working normality with a couple of cool lessons, generally making progress. Sometimes I like to be experimental – other times I wish I had an overhead projector to copy from and textbook to work through.

I’m definitely finding out what type of teacher I am. I thought at the start of all this I would be going down a pastoral route and in many ways I am. I genuinely want to ‘look out’ for kids and make sure they are OK. But more than that – I enjoy it when things work. I enjoy the learning and teaching that goes on day in and day out, I like seeing ways I can make it better. And I particularly like it when the kids respect me cos they can’t get away with messing around. By no means am I any good at it – but I can see myself in a couple of years getting better at it and running a tightly managed classroom where real and worthwhile learning takes place.

But for my final question that has been perplexing me just now and believe me I am no cynic. I seriously doubt that for some kids I or any teacher do the blindest bit of good for. No matter how much we try, the resources and effort we put in place. Even if it is as good as anyone anywhere can get. Some kids will not want to learn, do not want to be taught and will either placate you and then continue to mess around aimlessly or deliberately go out their way to be disruptive. And it is these kids I loose the most sleep over (although tbh I’m too tired usually to actually loose sleep – it’s just a phrase).  I will always try to teach these kids, constantly chipping away at the hard exteriors. I try to focus more on success in responsibility or citizenship or mamging to complete some work. But I really do wonder, when those type of kids walk out the school door does any of it make the blindest bit of difference?

I guess I’ve got the rest of my life to find out

 I realised today that one of the real strengths of a teacher has to be that when you are feeling rubbish, run-down and just plain ragged – you really need to delve into some ‘magic hat’ of lesson resources and quite simply get on with the job. I can think of plenty of other jobs, where you have got other people relying on you where the show must go on. But how many is there when you are bunged up with the cold (as is half your class) and you have to keep everyone on track acting as a steward of ideal behaviour? 

I now look in a new light at all the teachers who come rain or shine always turn up and get on with their job.

How many times have you heard ‘Aye, they did that 20 years ago, and then changed it and now they’re changing it back again”. Or “Yeh, it’s the next flavour of the month”.  I’ve only been a teacher for 10 weeks or so and I’ve heard it plenty. From a lot of different people. Different backgrounds. Different schools.

At our council CPD meetings the most people address us (the NQT’s) with the words “You are the future of teaching. You are young. You can make change happen”.

Change. It’s a big theme, and it’s not like it is new or is the flavour of the month. It is something that no-one can escape from. People 400 years ago were thinking pretty similar things to what you are thinking just now. Maybe in a different context, but essentially the same stuff. But turning to the voices of those cynics – why do it? “If its not broke, don’t fix it” Is education a series of cliches? Sometimes from my young eyes I feel that it could easily be if we let it. “Do you want a learning intention with that?” I heard that one in the staffroom. But I’m supposed to be part of something, the new blood, the teacher of the future. But how do I battle against the cynics? Why should it be a battle? Why do things seem to change so much? And why should they?

Even in this web2.0 arena which provides us with ‘tools’ that are coming out our ears, we seem to go through fads. I honestly hardly blog about all these technologies because I feel that by the time I blog it, it will be out of date and the next thing will have come along. In the same way (I am told) Education goes through fads. Does it? I seem to have started my career at the start of a God almighty changing point. AcFE, AifL, Sustainability, Citizenship, Health Promoting Schools, Enterprise. 

Could we all just not agree on something and stick to it? It would satisfy the cynics of change. But I know that this couldn’t be the case as education really is an evolutionary process. It needs to be diverse and different and suit the learner and teacher. So why, when I go to CPD, am I constantly told to incorporate a million different techniques and values into my lessons. I feel I should make up a checklist for myself: Enterprise, yes? Citizenship, yes? Use of technology, yes?

 I feel if you want us to be the ‘teachers of the future’ advise yes, but don’t suffocate.

What I’ve learnt over the past couple of weeks is the truely humbling nature of my job. I’ve learnt that I thouroughly enjoy it! Often I am frustrated and really wish that I could manage that class better. Often, I find myself repeating discipline procedures and wondering if my actions are making a blind bit of difference to the kid who refuses to look at me when I’m talking to them A good few times I’ve thought despairingly “Oh God: This is it. Can I really do this for the rest of my life?”

But that is the point. It’s normal. And it is a reflection on the fact that education is as ordinary and essential as breathing. When I think of it this way, I feel grateful to be in a country where we have such an opportunity to make innovation  commonplace.

I hope that I can play my part!

 Terry Freedman showed us that if we want to contribute to the HUGE new “coming of age – an introduction to www” book, then head over to www.ictineducation.org. It is a print on demand project with profits going to a good cause. The first edition of this book was downloaded or read by 60,000 people. A big audience….?

Iain Stangers’ presentation really stood out. For me he showed us the COOLEST software around. dartfish allows you to edit and annote video really easily. You can do it, the kids can do it. You can create these ‘mediabooklets’ that the kids work on, annotating or editing the videoclip to their hearts content. In Technical Education, I had some immediate ideas… Iain talked about using it for internal assessment (kids can do voice over), peer assessment,  using it as record of achievment - he had the SQA approve this method of internal assessment. This would clearly be a good way of engaging those kids who hate writing out screeds of text . In the school I am in, the use of ICT in the classroom seems to be a key focus at the moment (eg HGIOS), I will defenitely be trying to persuade some people to get this used in the classrooms! I really enjoyed Iain’s presentation, although his software seemed to be playing up a bit, his enthusiasm and passion for what he was talking about, was very clear.

Next up, Ollie Bray. If I could some up Ollie’s point it was that really simple, small things can have the greatest impact on learners. I am sure he will put up his presentation on his blog if he hasn’t done already! Also if George W can use “the google” anyone can

David Gilmour talked about  replacing standard school websites with a weblog  and the effect on the parents. (in my opinion, surely as it is the parent who has the most effect on the child this was one of the most intsightful points of the evening) As David explained, the parents said: “we want to be involved in the school though we are really very busy. We will only get engaged if you can give me the information to get engaged in my kids class.” Weblogs anyone?

Out of the nanopresentations, Lee Carson made a fantastic point “You have a moral obligation to comment”. He was talking about his P7 class blog, and the simple need that the children had – to know that other people were interested in what they were doing. It struck me of the complete simplicity of all this “web2.0-ness”,  everyone, on all different levels and in all different ways, just want to be connected.

Dobee (doo be doo). These seemed cool. “Get those digital natives on board”

Nick Hood: Move over moodle and GET WITH THE WIKI! He went down the long road of using moodle and through his experience is encouraging us all to use wiki’s for collaborative learning. Will Glow stand up in comparison?

Andy Black. “I want to scare you to death” ummm – yup, he did! Andy was funny, enthusiatic, and had a clear message: “It’s not about the device, stupid”.

Alastair Thin gave an honest and interesting presentation about his “Martini media lectures” which was followed by Steve Beard who wanted to show us Second Life as an alternative learning environment.

And then it was over! I only looked at my watch once, when IslayIan said the bar was closed! I finally found out where AB is – sitting next to IslayIan I met Mr W, briefly, who gave me a ‘moo card’, very smart. I also saw John Johnston on the way out the door, though I’m sure not many people knew who I was

Hello to everyone who was there – it was a refreshing experience for someone like me who has so much to learn. I look forward to meeting and collaborating with you in the future.

 They all completed this, I was then going to bring it together on the board using a mindmap. The rest of the lesson was to complete ‘mounting’ our wee freehand sketches of iPods.

Well I did bring it together, although this took 40 minutes. I hadn’t planned this of course, but what I thought would be a wee starter turned out to be the most diverse and rich conversation about colour theory. I didn’t think 1st years would manage 40 mins of whole class discuss, but they did. Idea after idea. Some were met with “whit?” but most were met with, “ahh”. I will post up their end result (which was huge) and you can explore the fascinating exploration 12 and 13 year olds had on just what colour can mean to them.

For me, once they had left I had a huge grin on my face as I had, well… managed to do my job!

I’ve really realised what I’ve got ahead of me for the next year – one hell of a learning curve. At the moment it doesn’t really feel like a curve, more like a very steep slope. But, I’m determined to get up it.

I guess that being a new virtually non experienced teacher I am bound to be tested by the kids. No reputation precedes me, I am young, female and generally teaching boys (only a few girls in my middle school classes, some none at all). So far it has gone OK, though I feel that I may have a battle on my hands with a couple of classes. I strongly feel that to have a good learning environment I shouldn’t be entering into a class with a folder of punishment exercises at the ready but is it the case that at the start of a school year this is necessary to establish boundaries particularly as kids are VERY willing to push them?

A good few of my classes are highly enjoyable. The pupils have good rapport with each other and allow me the leeway needed to let my personality help with the teaching. When my personality is tempered and I have to enter into constant reprimands to keep pupils on track I feel that the whole learning process/pupil enjoyment is restricted.

Is it a stage that is necessary? Is it time or experience that will help me overcome this restrictive stage? Do experienced teachers have these classes where they have a battle on their hands? I am hoping that by establishing and maintaining decent conduct through the use of routines and procedures that these classes will ‘lighten up’. Though how long this will take I have no idea.